KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 1
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Nepal has welcomed over one million foreign tourists via air in the first eleven months of 2024. A total of 1,055,533 international tourists arrived in the country between January and November.
Despite these encouraging numbers, meeting the annual target of 1,315,000 tourists appears to be challenging. The NTB projects an additional 70,000 tourists in December, which would bring the total to approximately 1,125,000, still falling short of the target.
In November alone, Nepal welcomed 114,000 tourists, marking a 5.4 percent increase compared to the same month in 2023. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane stated that total tourist arrivals for 2024 are expected to exceed last year's figure of 1,014,871 by around 10 percent.
The NTB had anticipated a record-breaking year, hoping to surpass the pre-pandemic high of 1,197,191 tourist arrivals in 2019. While this goal remains unmet, Nepal's tourism recovery rate is remarkable, standing at 96 percent according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization for the Asia-Pacific region.
(With inputs from RSS)
